Journalist (at RFI - ex-DW, BBC, CBC, France24, TV5...), Writer (for the i paper, Byline Times, The New Arab, Indy Voices, I AM History, Art UK, Al Jazeera English...), podcast producer.

I also work on films as a researcher, have been the writer-in-residence at Arnolfini art centre, in Bristol, UK, for two years, and a Journalism Lecturer for three years, at BIMM & UWE, then in Paris, France. 

I've been a journalist and reporter since 2004, worked in television, radio, print and online, for the BBC and other international networks. Born in Paris, I have later been based in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi (covering East Africa), in Central Africa and Bristol. As a reporter, I travelled from Italy to Haiti, via Tunisia, Liberia, South Africa, India, Mexico, Iraq... 

From 2006 to 2018, I was one of the main researchers on films for the award-winning Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck for years, on and off.

I especially worked at his film production company Velvet Film, on films such as 'The Young Karl Marx', 'Fatal Assistance' and 'I Am Not Your Negro'. 

And I contributed to projects about colonialism and white supremacy, centred on Malcolm X, Frantz Fanon and Sven Lindqvist book's, including 'Exterminate All the Brutes', a HBO series out in April 2021.
Details here:  https://www.hbo.com/exterminate-all-the-brutes  

From 2015 to 2022, I lived in Bristol, UK, and conducted research for a non-fiction book on its multicultural music and graffiti scene. The book, titled 'Out of the Comfort Zone', came out in France in 2016, and in the UK in 2019. It was then was chosen by Rough Trade as one of the best music books of 2019. I also worked as a journalism lecturer and gave talks about media and cultural industries.

In 2018, I started working on podcasts, for the BBC, and to be a guest on the Brexit podcast Remainiacs among others. In 2020, I co-created the Quarantini podcast in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown (listen here: https://the-quarantini.captivate.fm/). From 2024, I launched a podcast on RFI, on African affairs.

I'm now based between England and France, travelling to Africa regularly.

As for my background: I was born to immigrant working-class parents, my entire family coming from an indigenous group from northeastern Algeria (Kabylie). I studied literature at La Sorbonne in Paris, then got a Masters degree in International Relations from Sciences Po (IEP de Paris), plus a one-year Master in Journalism. I worked during my studies, had a grant based on my parents' low income, and did 10 placements (more or less paid - mostly less!) before getting my first jobs, freelance, as a writer, television reporter, then documentary film researcher, before embracing radio.

My passions and interests: African-Europeans relations, Middle-Eastern cultures, multiculturalism, politics, activism and social change, independent cinema, music, arts, literature.

Find me online here on:

My blog: Melissa on the Road

Twitter

Instagram

Bluesky

My YouTube channel

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